


Together In All Things

by hinotoriii



Series: Oscar Trevelyan [25]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:22:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4318704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hinotoriii/pseuds/hinotoriii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <b>Update 9/30: AU scene as from Trespasser's release</b>
</p><p>The last thing Oscar expects from his evening is the presence of a question which has lingered at the back of his mind often over the past few years. Even more so when he does not voice it himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together In All Things

**Author's Note:**

> Something that's been in the plans for these two for a while.  
> Also written to celebrate the '[marry Dorian](https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/marrydorian)' month, over on tumblr.

By the time Oscar makes it back to his room it is late afternoon. He walks up the final steps of stairs, carefully cradling a number of papers which Josephine had made sure he left with to his chest. When he looks up he quickly recognises the familiar of the shape and sight of Dorian’s back to him as he sits on the loveseat nearby, engrossed in whatever book of his it is that has currently become of latest interest to him. It makes Oscar smile warmly to himself, a welcome sense of comfort washing over him.  
  
"There really is just no rest for you, is there?"   
  
Dorian's voice fills the silence in the air between them both, causing Oscar to pause for a second as he finishes his trek across the room and rests his papers upon his desk for later. He huffs out a laugh, shaking his head.  
  
"You know as well as I that the work never truly ends around here," he replies, turning. Dorian closes his book and rests it down in the space beside him, looking up at Oscar with a bright smile of his own.  
  
"Evidently. You've been stuck in meetings nearly every afternoon since my return. If I weren’t already aware of how regular a thing that is, I can assure you I’d be just about ready to start planning out ways in which to steal you out of the war room by now."  
  
His words are humoured and good natured. Dorian rises to his feet after they are spoken and silently makes his way over towards Oscar.  
  
"Don't worry, they're certainly no more interesting than you are," says Oscar around a tired laugh, before flopping into a vacant seat which sits just to the side of the desk. A heavy sigh falls from his lips, and Oscar reaches up to rub tiredly at his eyes briefly; a small attempt at pushing away the sleep which lingers there.   
  
"How has your day with Mae been anyway? She seemed excited to spend it with you when we told her this morning."  
  
"But of course she was! Our daughter adores any time she gets to spend with me, and why wouldn’t she?"

Dorian pauses, pressing a hand to stroke lightly at his own chin while his expression turns thoughtful for a brief moment.

"Although now that I remember, she was rather more excited to be left to play with the Thieirin's boy after some time. Having Alistair and his wife here at the moment certainly keeps the two of them entertained, even if it means you could be suffering complaints from those working in the kitchens about stolen foods very soon."  
  
"Ah," says Oscar, letting his hand fall from his face and offering Dorian a sympathetic look. "Think of it this way, at least she's coming out of her shell more these days and making her own friends."  
  
"Well, there is that. I just hope she won’t catch the young boys strange obsession with cheese. That _has_ to be a Southerner thing, yes? It’s too common a thing to be otherwise."  
  
Shaking his head once more, Oscar reaches for the bottle of red wine which sits upon his desk from where he had been working the previous evening. He holds the bottle up, raising his eyebrows in silent question to Dorian who responds with a nod of his own. He begins to uncork the bottle, reaching for two glasses which he keeps nearby.  
  
"I’m not having the great cheese debate with you again, at least not today. If it makes you feel any better however, know that Mae wouldn't leave your fennec fox alone again while you were last in Tevinter. One evening I even found her curled up in bed with the animal. I was left wondering for the longest time if I should wake or just leave them. They did look so comfortable asleep together, after all."

While Dorian chuckles to himself at Oscar’s words, a frown begins to form over Oscar’s brow. He realises that the bottle of wine is empty, probably having finished the last of it himself last night and forgetting to get rid of the empty bottle himself in his own tiredness from reading so many reports and letters at one time. Oscar holds up a finger as he begins to stand again, turning to Dorian as he continues to speak.  
  
"I have another bottle kept hidden in the back, let me just quickly retrieve it."  
  
He walks away, disappearing into the adjacent room as Dorian is left to wait. Oscar isn’t particularly quiet whilst finding the bottle in question, a fact Dorian has come to learn well over the years -- as well as one which has him understanding why Oscar would never be able to cut it if he were to survive purely on just his own poor stealth skills -- yet while he waits and listens to the sound of Oscar moving various items to get to the bottle, Dorian lets his attention fall toward the various reports and messages lay upon the desk. Most are just as dull and uninteresting as Dorian often sees sitting there, but there is one which stands out.

It’s a small piece of parchment, yet it appears to be slightly decorated. There’s a blue, floral border which frames the corners, and that joint with the familiar image sat towards the bottom are both an obvious symbol which Dorian knows are only ever used by Orlesian royalty. Interest peaked, Dorian picks up the letter, frowning as he reads the little which is written upon the sheet.  
  
" _Amatus_ , what is this letter from Orlais about?" ask Dorian, despite having a small inkling. Oscar steps into the room after a few moments longer reading with a fresh bottle of wine in his hand, looking over Dorian’s shoulder so he can see what it is he’s asking about.  
  
"Oh _that_ letter. It's an invitation to Empress Celene's wedding," Oscar answers, moving to where he stood before and beginning to uncorking the new bottle. "Or the first draft of it at least. Celene sent a copy out to all of us which were involved in making it so that anyone could marry who they wanted without constraints, what with how we're all expected to attend and provide our support for her marriage now."  
  
"And this is only the first draft you say?" Dorian asks, his eyes widening. Oscar laughs.  
  
"I know, you'd think it was fine as it is, wouldn't you? Apparently, the actual letters she plans to send out will have more decoration. If you believe it even really needs such a thing."  
  
"Ah yes. We have a similar thing back in Tevinter, yet it is not so .... floral." Dorian glances down at the letter in his hand, before setting it back on the pile he had picked it up from previously. "Orlesians and their desire to make sure they add 'too much' to everything."  
  
"Let me guess,” says Oscar, turning back to Dorian with a smile and offering him one of the glasses he’d just filled. “In Tevinter the tradition is to just make sure everything is trimmed with gold instead.”

Dorian takes the glass offered to him, smirking playfully in return. “Well it is much more fashionable.”  
  
Shaking his head with a small laugh, Oscar starts to walk towards one of the large doors which lead out onto one of the small balconies. He unlocks them, opening them wide and allowing more of the sunlight and cool, refreshing mountain air to enter the room behind him. It’s nice, feeling that breeze fall upon his face. Oscar has always found his balconies as a good place he can use whenever he wished to either think or simply relax, and the coldness of the snow-filled air always helped him to awaken whenever he felt pulled down too much by either tiredness or the feeling of the weight of the world upon his shoulders.

As he sets his own wine glass down on the top of the stone railing and leans forward on it with his arms, Oscar is unaware of the way Dorian watches him for a long moment. What he does eventually sense however is when Dorian makes his way to meet by his side, picking up on the sound of his footsteps and the familiarity of his presence which Oscar has come to know as well as his own. He turns his head to find Dorian smiling at him, his fingers lightly held around the stem of his own glass.

“What does all this marriage business mean to you then?” asks Dorian, causing Oscar to raise his brow quizzically in return.

“I would have thought the work I’ve been involved with these past three years would have made that rather obvious,” Says Oscar, the corner of his mouth tilting upwards into a grin. He looks away again, staring out at the view of the tall mountains before them both. “It’s important. At least as an option to have. It’s an option everyone _should_ have, and they now rightly do. Although if you ask me, it shouldn’t have taken the likes of Queen Anora, Empress Celene, the Herald Inquisitor and Divine Victoria to make it a possibility in the first place. It should have just .... been one.”

“Regardless of if it should have, it is at least now a reality, is it not?” Dorian replies, taking a quick sip from his wine before setting it next to Oscar’s. It is a question which does not need an answer, and so Oscar remains silent. “But that was not what I was asking you in the first place, not ideally. What I meant to say was, what does it mean to you _personally?_ If someone were to ever ask to marry you, would it change any answer you once used to have?”

“Of course it doesn’t,” Oscar answers, the response immediate. He glances at Dorian again quickly, before pushing himself so he was no longer leaning forward. “I have you, why in Maker’s name would I ever need or want anyone else? My feelings don’t suddenly change, regardless about what does within the rest of the world.”

When Oscar meets Dorian’s gaze, he expects to be met with the wonder and disbelief that once used to shine there back when they first started their relationship together. They were expressions which Dorian still wore from time to time when it came to Oscar, yet they were considerably rarer now Dorian had grown to become fully comfortable with what they had. Comfortable with knowing that it was real and that there was no indication nor intention of it ever ending anytime soon on either side of things.

Yet when their eyes do meet, Oscar is surprised to find that Dorian is not looking at him in the way he expected him to be. Instead Dorian is amused, lips tilted upwards once more into a humoured smile, eyes shining with the familiar mischief Oscar has come to know he carries so very well by now.

It does not take Dorian long to start chuckling lightly.

“While I very much appreciate hearing that, it wasn’t quite what I was attempting to ask you either.”

Brow furrowing in his bewilderment, Oscar gives Dorian an odd look in return. One which explains his ever growing confusion over what Dorian’s meaning truly is. He thinks that Dorian must see it clearly, as his expression softens before he continues speaking.

“What if --” Dorian begins to say, pausing for a brief second. Oscar notices the way Dorian tries to hide a slight trepidation, how he quickly pushes himself to carry on, acting as if the moment hadn’t even existed. “What if it was us? What if we got married?”

At first, the question has Oscar’s eyes growing wide. He stares at Dorian, almost as if expecting him to say something more, to explain that what Oscar _thought_ he’d just heard wasn’t exactly what he had heard.

Yet there’s nothing of the kind.

Instead Dorian continues to look back at Oscar, silently waiting for his response. Oscar blinks, giving Dorian the same look of bewilderment which he had been wearing just before.

“Are you asking me hypothetically, or is this counting as an actual proposal right now?”

Oscar’s question causes Dorian’s smile to grow, his anxiety dimming somewhat.

“Can’t it be both?” Dorian asks him, reaching for where his glass of wine sat once more. “It would certainly cover two of my current wonderings about you. How is it that even after all this time together, you still manage to have your mysterious ways?”

“It’s just; I didn’t think you …”

“‘Didn’t think I...’ what, _amatus?_ Please, say whatever it is that’s on your mind.”

Oscar let’s out a sigh, rubbing a hand over his forehead.

“I didn’t think -- didn’t _know_ \-- if marriage was something you’d be all that comfortable with, Dorian.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Dorian asks, a frown beginning to emerge upon his own brow. Oscar shrugs, moving to lean against the balcony railing, using his arms to support most of his weight.

“Well for one,” Oscar begins, looking behind him quickly to make sure he wasn’t about to knock over his own glass of wine. “You’ve always made it seem like you’ve never really known what a happy example of a marriage can be. What with what you’ve told me about Tevinter's ideas on what marriage is meant for, and with what you’ve mentioned about what you remember from that of the one your parents shared together. I’d always considered it was a subject you never truly wished to have discussed, that it would be one that you found uncomfortable … or difficult, even.”

Dorian leans against the railing next to Oscar’s side, close enough that their shoulders brush against one another’s. Oscar’s attention focuses back towards him, finding Dorian’s growing frown had disappeared, morphing into that of a gentle expression instead.

“I can hardly say you’d be wrong about any of those thoughts. They’re all very much true after all,” Dorian pauses, setting his glass to one side once again before returning towards Oscar. “However, you’re forgetting that all of those things were there long before you managed to fight your way into my life. You’ve already proved me wrong about so many of my other previous worries and beliefs of what sort of lonely and unfulfilling life I’d likely end up with for myself, I expect that it would come easily for you to show me what a good, happy example of a marriage can really be like.”

Hesitantly, Dorian slides his hand over towards Oscar’s. The question is asked in silence between them, and Oscar’s attention is pulled down to the movement, watching how Dorian waits. He doesn’t have to wait long as Oscar soon follows his guidance, letting their fingers tentatively meet for a second, lingering in their touches before beginning to reach their hands closer together, clasping them.

“As syrupy as I’m sure it sounds even to your ears, I’d only want such a thing if it were to be shared with you.”

It is only then, with Dorian’s seriousness over the topic that Oscar truly understands:

_Dorian is asking to marry him._

Marry. As in to be each others husbands.

As in together in everything until death -- and even then Oscar half expects they’d chase after the other if they could in any possible way.

It’s overwhelming, but not negatively so. Oscar simply did not foresee his day ending in such a way. He did not ever foresee such a thing even happening, not with how he had assumed Dorian felt about such a large subject. Of course he had toyed with the idea himself once or twice -- how could he not, when he was aiding to make marriage more of a celebration shared by and for all? -- but Oscar had never thought to pursue it. He had been much too worried that it could frighten Dorian, or put too much pressure on the relationship they were already content and happy with.

He’d never once allowed himself to consider that maybe, just maybe, it was something Dorian wanted with him too.

“I feel that I should remind you,” Oscar begins, his attention still drawn onto where their hands are clasped together. “The only example I can draw from is that of my brothers marriage. Otherwise, I’m walking just as blinding as you into this.”

“Do we really require examples for this though, do you think? Regardless of if we have them or not?”

Oscar turns his gaze to look up, meeting Dorian’s waiting expression. He answers silent at first with a smile, finding the action mirrored upon Dorian’s own face not long after.

“No, not really. We’ve managed all the years up until now well enough. This is just ... “

“Something more.”

Oscar’s smile grows at the words, recalling a time long in their past where they had once been spoken, back when there was still stumbling steps and a sense of uncertainty over what the future would hold for them both together. He gives a small nod, knowing that since that time they have managed only to grow and to learn, to find what it is they had both been searching for and to grasp hold of it tightly.

“It’s something more."

"Does this mean that you're saying you'll --"

Oscar interrupts, reaching to press his other hand over Dorian's mouth and silencing him. He moves forward, removing his hand so that he can instead press his lips against Dorian's, bringing him into a soft kiss. It doesn't take long for Dorian to respond, moving his own hand behind Oscar's head, threading his fingers through his hair and caressing in a way which both soothes Oscar and encourages him to press a little deeper into the kiss, just enough to allow their tips of their tongues to brush together sweetly.

"Do you truly need more encouragement to know the answer to that question?" He asks after a while, having pulled away enough to look at Dorian directly once more. Dorian smiles a crookedly content smile his way, chuckling.

"That really depends. _Is_ there more encouragement you’re willing to provide? I’m always open to your very unique methods of persuasion after all. They do tend to be rather ... convincing."

Oscar grins, before leaning forward so that he can rest his forehead against Dorian's. He rests the hand which isn't being held to press against Dorian's cheek, letting his thumb rub in a small, calming circle upon the skin it touches there.

"There's no one else in all this world I'd ever want to marry more than you, my love. It's been that way for a rather long time now."

"As has it for me with you," Dorian replies, leaning in to press a light peck on the tip of Oscar's nose. "I absolutely love and adore you, _amatus_. Please, allow me the pleasure of making that clear for all to know and see."

"I'd be the largest of all fools to say no."


End file.
